Monday, 9 January 2017

Pretty good year in the Pilbara

Gotta be big...

Despite the associated negativity notching an all-time high in 2016, in the words of Tori Amos it was a 'pretty good year' for the world's biggest iron ore loading terminal the Port of Port Hedland, which shipped out another 43.94 million tonnes of ore in December.

The December cargo weights were a walloping 17.4 per cent higher than the same month of last year.

This was by some margin the biggest monthly result on record, and the quarterly figures for iron ore cargo shipped notched a 2.6 per cent increase to some 126.7 million tonnes, potentially boding well for GDP in the fourth quarter.

Over the year 478.9 million tonnes were shipped, with 85 per cent of the cargo headed for China and Taiwan.

The amount of iron ore shipped has more than doubled over the last five years, suggesting that reports of the end of the boom were ejaculated rather too early.

Better still the iron ore price increased by more than 80 per cent last year, helping to return Australia's international trade balance to a comfortable surplus, in turn easing pressure on the AAA-rating.

Because I know you love fun facts, here are a few fun facts from a record year in the Pilbara.

And just because you enjoyed those so much, here are a few more.

Source: Pilbara Ports, Annual Report 2016

Only when the tide is going out can you see 60 million tonnes of cargo...